Adventitious Musings
by TRDancer
Summary: Twenty-five unrelated one-shots/drabbles based on one-word prompts for Round One of the Twilight 25.
1. Play

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**  
**Prompt:** Play  
**Pen name:** TRDancer  
**Pairing:** Quil/Claire  
**Rating:** K

* * *

"Quilly, can you put Barbie's head back on?" Claire asked, holding up the two broken pieces of her doll.

"Sure, Claire," I replied, taking them from her and snapping the head back on with practiced skill. Claire seemed to have a certain fascination with ripping her dolls heads off—probably because she knew she could always have me put them back on. I handed them back to her with a sigh. "There you go."

"Yay!" she cheered, shoving the doll into the pink convertible next to Ken, who was riding shotgun, and pushing them in circles around and around the room.

I snorted. Only my Claire wouldn't have a problem with Barbie driving with her feet.

After fifteen minutes of Claire's mumblings to herself—telling a story, no doubt—and moving the dolls around to seemingly random places, she came over to me and plunked herself down with a sigh.

"Quilly," she whined, "I'm bored."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then grinned lopsidedly. "Make Quilly a princess!"

"Make Quilly a princess?" I repeated. "Are you sure Claire doesn't want to be a princess?"

"No, Quilly be a pretty princess!" she insisted, grabbing my hand and using all of her five-year-old strength to tug me to my feet and drag me over to what she called her 'beauty parlour'.

Not that I resisted.

I was quite familiar with the pink plastic chair she forced me into. In fact, I was sure I could even apply my own make-up if I wanted.

Five-year-old style make-up, of course.

Claire busied herself pulling out little pots of powder and jars of cream, along with the corresponding brushes. I closed my eyes and waited for her to command me to open them again.

Three million cold smacks of cream and three times the amount of powder later, Claire chirped, "Quilly's pretty!"

I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror. The skin on my face was at least five shades too light for the rest of me and accented by pink powder scattered all over. My eyes were every colour of the rainbow mixed together, making a sort of muddy brown colour in the middle, and my lips were a bright fuchsia.

I was pretty _hideous._

But the look on Claire's face made up for all of that. She was smiling as if there were no tomorrow, her eyes sparkling as she looked hopefully up at me. I couldn't help but smile back at her. _What I wouldn't do for this kid, _I thought.

"What do you think, Quilly?" she squealed excitedly.

"I think," I replied, swinging her up onto my lap and making her shriek happily, "that you are the best make-up artist ever and that I am the most beautiful princess this earth has ever seen."

Claire beamed.

"You know what else I think?" I asked mischievously.

"What?"

"That someone that creates such perfection as this deserves some cake."

"CAKE!" she screeched. I laughed.

"How about we go downstairs and get some from your aunt? I'm sure she'd love to see your creation."

She nodded solemnly and I stood up, still holding her, and carried her down the stairs.

"Hey, Emily, is that cake done baking yet?" I called out as we walked into the kitchen.

"I just took it out. You guys ready to eat it, then?" she asked, her back turned to us as she pulled something out of the fridge.

"We sure are," I replied.

"Well, you're—holy Jesus!" Emily jumped, almost dropping what I saw now was a frosting container. She regained her composure and smiled. "Wow, Quil. You look... great."

"Quilly's a princess," Claire piped up.

"Is he now, precious?" Emily asked. Claire nodded solemnly.

"Hey, Claire, want to sit in one of the chairs and wait for your cake?" I asked. She nodded and I put her down in the closest one before turning back to Emily, who was now barely suppressing her laughter.

"You let her do this to you again?" she whispered.

I shrugged. "It makes her happy. Just don't tell Jacob, he'll—"

"Don't tell me what?" a familiar voice asked from behind me.

I cringed and then slowly turned around. "Oh... um, hey, Jake."

"Hey, Qui—oh. _Oh."_ And with that, Jacob burst out laughing.

I sighed. "You're lucky I love you, Claire, kid," I muttered, ruffling her hair.

"Quilly's a pretty princess!" she insisted again, smiling up at me.

Emily's frosting container fell to the ground as she joined in with Jacob's laughter.

* * *

**Review, please. :)**


	2. Raindrops

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Raindrops  
**Pen name: **TRDancer  
**Pairing:** Bella/Edward  
**Rating: **T

* * *

It was raining that night.

It wasn't anything new, of course, considering I lived in Forks, but it gave me a sort of foreboding. Like something bad was going to happen.

Since I was in a hurry to get home from my job at the small hole-in-the-wall cafe downtown, I decided to cut through the alleyways.

I flipped my hood up onto my head and shoved my hands into my pockets in an effort to hide my skin away from the cold raindrops falling from the dark, cloudy sky. I walked as fast as I could without running, the gravel crunching loudly beneath my feet.

As I approached the bank, I stepped off the gravel and began to cut through the lot toward the street. The closer I got to the street—and the bank—the worse my sense of apprehension became; my feet itched to turn and run in the other direction, but I didn't obey the urge.

Suddenly, loud voices cut through the still air and I froze in place. I couldn't make out what they were saying. There was the distinct sound of metal on metal and then the screech of a door opening before the air around me became quiet once more.

I cautiously began walking toward the street again, but stopped when I realized that someone was standing outside of the bank. On a whim, I ducked behind the nearest bush and slowly peered out from behind it.

Watching the person pace back and forth in front of the wide open door, I could tell that he—or she—was standing guard—which meant that there was at least one more person inside. It was obviously a bank robbery. I swallowed hard, imagining what the people would do to me if they found me here.

A man's voice came from within the bank, causing me to duck down again. I held my breath, eyes scrunched closed, waiting for any signal that might mean they were leaving. I waited for so long that my hood was completely soaked with rain before I opened my eyes and started to warily look over the bush again.

Looking straight back at me were two brilliant green eyes.

I did the only thing I could think of—I ran.

~*~

When I opened my eyes, the sky was gray rather than the black it had been before. I blinked, trying to re-orientate myself. I turned slowly around, only to be blinded by flashing lights from the top of police cars and glaring yellow police tape blocking off the bank door.

I tried to recall what had happened to no avail. All I could remember was deciding to cut through the alleys to get home last night and the rain that had been pouring down on me.

I decided there was a good chance that Charlie was over among the police cars, so I started to walk over there to see if I could find him—and possibly get him to explain to me how I'd come to find myself in the middle of the street.

I wandered amongst the police officers, who were discussing things in rapid, hushed tones. I caught something about 'Chief's daughter' and 'hospital', but I didn't associate the two phrases, looking intently around for Charlie. I saw him nowhere, and finally came to a stop on the other side of the haphazardly parked vehicles, standing on the sidewalk.

It was then that I finally picked up a full sentence from someone's conversation. "Yeah, Charlie's at the hospital right now. His daughter was messed up pretty bad..."

The voice faded into the background of my thought as I walked down the sidewalk, away from the scene by the bank. My thoughts raced. How in the world could I be in the hospital if I was here, walking down the street in perfect condition?

The loud roar of a truck caught my attention and I looked up, catching a glance of the person driving. I recognized him immediately by his green eyes—and it seemed he recognized me too, as his eyes widened and he hit the gas pedal, turning the corner with the screech of tire on pavement.

I had no idea how I knew the man, but I somehow knew he was related to what had happened at the bank. So I did something I would have never expected of myself—I started to run after the truck.

I may have been shouting for the person to stop, as well. I would have expected every person on the street to stare at me, maybe whisper to each other about the crazy girl running after the truck, but everyone seemed to just be ignoring me. It was like they didn't see me at all.

I slowed to a walking pace as the truck continued to barrel down the street, sighing to myself. I'd known it would be pointless to try and chase the truck, but I couldn't help but try anyway. I just wanted answers as to what was happening. Nothing made sense anymore.

I looked around awkwardly, wondering where exactly I'd been walking to. I wondered what time it was, but when I looked for my cell phone to check, I couldn't find it. I groaned inwardly and reached out to stop a woman on the street. "Excuse me, do you..." The woman ignored me, hurrying on down the sidewalk, and I trailed off, staring after her bemusedly. I tried again, this time on an elderly man. "Excuse me," I said loudly. The man didn't even glance in my direction. I frowned and reached out to grab his arm. My hand passed right through and he continued on his way.

I stood there, in perpetual shock. Was I dead? A ghost, doomed to roaming the earth for all time, seeing, but never seen, hearing, but never heard? If that was the case, how had the man in the truck been able to see me?

After awhile, I began to walk again, if only to give my body something to do—if this even _was _my body. It obviously wasn't a normal kind of body, even so. I walked and walked and walked until I was sure I should be completely sore and drop-dead tired—but I wasn't. I only stopped when I spotted the same truck from earlier parked in front of a secluded white house near the edge of town.

I couldn't explain it, but it felt like something was drawing me toward the house. I took careful steps up the driveway until I was hovering next to the front door. I could hear voices coming from inside, one a man's and one a woman's. It sounded like an argument.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts of certain guilt, managing to convince myself _'They can't see me'_ and stepped through the front door.

The man that had been driving the truck was standing with his back to me, facing a girl with spiky black hair who was sitting on the decrepit looking couch with her head in her hands. An ancient TV lit up the room with it's flickering blueish-gray light.

"Alice, I saw her. How is that possible?" the man hissed.

The girl looked up at the man with puffy, deep-set eyes. "It's not, Edward. You're imagining things," she said firmly.

Edward groaned. "It's bad enough that someone had to get in the way of what we did. They don't have to haunt me afterward." A chill ran through me. Did that mean that I_ was_ dead? What had happened at the bank? It was starting to drive me insane, not knowing.

Alice wiped her eyes and blinked steadily up at Edward. "Ghosts don't exist. It's just your conscience."

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his already unruly hair, turning around as he did so. He froze as his eyes landed on me. "So what would you call that?" he asked, looking back at Alice, lifting an arm and pointing at me. I took a step back, feeling vulnerable.

Alice followed his gesture and shook her head. "There's nothing there. Go to work, please. We have to act normal, anyway. We don't want the cops to get suspicious."

"You mean they're not going to be suspicious of you holing up here?" he sneered.

"I hole up here frequently, if you haven't noticed. Now, shoo."

Edward sighed and walked out one of the doors leading off the living room area, presumably to get a coat. I stepped back through the front door and decided that if he were going anywhere, he must be taking the truck—and since I didn't have anywhere better to go, tagging along was what I would do. I hopped into the passenger side—through the door, of course.

Sure enough, Edward came traipsing out the front door, the screen door slamming behind him with a shrieking crash, shoving his arm into a light coat and heading directly for the truck. He opened the door, sat down, closed it behind him, and shoved the key in the ignition before glancing over and jumping about a foot when he saw me. He looked back ahead and shifted the truck into reverse, hitting the gas.

When we were moving steadily forward, I asked casually, "So, if you can see me, does that mean you can hear me, too?"

His hands clenched on the steering wheel, but he said nothing, staring straight out into the road. I pursed my lips.

"Um, Edward, is it? I just want some answers. Am I dead? What happened to me? _Where _am I? I mean, this is obviously not my real body..."

Edward began to mumble to himself, and I leaned closer in order to hear it. "Not real... just my conscience... not a ghost..."

I sat back and sighed. "I guess you're not going to be much help."

We drove in silence for a bit, save for a bit of mumbling about my not being real on Edward's part. After he'd fallen silent, I felt compelled to ask, "So, where are we going, anyway?"

There was, of course, no answer, but not five minutes after did we turn into the parking lot of the local daycare. I raised my eyebrows. Edward worked at the daycare? He didn't really seem like someone who would do something like that.

I jumped out of the truck, wondering, not for the first time, if I was going to have to get used to walking through doors and things for the rest of eternity. I hastily followed Edward into the daycare, slipping past the door just before it clicked shut.

The whole exchange in the house had confused me. Why were Edward and Alice wary of the cops becoming suspicious? Suspicious of _what, _exactly? I knew there must have been a bank robbery and I knew something had happened to me the same night as it. I was always ending up in the hospital, though. But that didn't explain why Edward's eyes would have been the last thing I recalled seeing, and then to have him acting so guilty...

Was it possible that he was the one who had killed—or nearly killed—me? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense and the angrier I became. Why would someone need to rob a bank? Couldn't they just get a fucking job like everyone else?

I hovered in the corner, watching as Edward greeted the person he must be switching shifts with, as they left promptly afterward. Edward immediately went over to a girl who looked to be about five who was colouring over in the corner by herself. He tickled her in the side and she giggled. Edward scooped her up and went over to another group of kids, kneeling down and whispering in their ears. The way he interacted with the kids made my heart melt. How could someone who acted like that have anything to do with what had happened to me? How could he have any part in the bank robbery? Be on the run from the cops? Every moment of this day was befuddling my brain further and further.

A loud snap and squeak from the corner of the room distracted me and I looked down to see that a mouse was trapped in a mouse trap, struggling to get out. As I watched, a little replica of the mouse appeared and scampered over to me, crawling up onto my shoe. The real mouse continued to struggle in the mouse trap, but as it fell still, the replica sniffing around on my shoe disappeared from view.

I blinked. However disturbing watching that had been, it had told me one very important fact—as long as I was here, I was still alive.

I sat down and watched as Edward played with the kids. It was amazing how he managed to pay attention to every single kid—though the first girl he'd picked up stuck by his side the entire time. I wondered what she found so fascinating about him—then I snorted at the irony of the thought, considering I was the one following Edward around everywhere he went.

Parents began to arrive not too long after. One by one, Edward waved goodbye to the kids. The last to go was the little girl, who immediately burst into tears when her mother attempted to take her from Edward.

"Vanessa, come on," her mother snapped, exasperated.

"Noooooooo!" she shrieked, reaching back toward Edward.

"Nessie, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? We can colour pretty pictures," Edward said softly.

Vanessa sniffed. "Okay," she said, letting herself be taken into her mother's arms.

Edward waved as they left, then sighed and shut the lights in the room off, spinning a keychain around his finger as he walked out the door and locked up. I followed as he got into the truck and started it up, pulling out into the traffic in the direction of his house.

Edward sighed, staring resolutely out into the traffic. I sighed too and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not dead."

The arm closest to me twitched, but he didn't say anything. I sighed and attempted to hit my head against the truck window—it didn't work, of course. My head went straight through. I pulled it back in with a groan.

We pulled into the driveway and Edward cut the engine, unbuckling and getting out. I trailed after him as he entered the house. Alice was asleep on the couch, and Edward stopped in front of the couch, looking down at her with a look of almost anger in his eyes. As I watched, the look softened to one of regret and he took a ratty blanket that was draped on top of the couch and spread it over her.

He sighed and started up the staircase on the other side of the room. I followed. I stood awkwardly in the hallway as he disappeared first into a bedroom, then into the bathroom. I noticed his eyes flickering nervously in my direction before he closed the door, and I figured he wanted his privacy—and I was all too willing to give it to him.

I wandered into the bedroom and sat down in a rocking chair that was propped against the wall. I wondered if it was possible for me to sleep in my ghost-like form—or was my corporeal body doing that for me? I hugged my legs to my chest and closed my eyes.

I heard Edward traipsing back into the room and the rustle of the bedcovers moving as he got into bed. I wondered what he was doing, going to bed so early—then again, if I was correct, he had been running around robbing banks until all hours of the night yesterday.

As I sat there, my eyes drifted open and I watched as the room turned from the light gray of imposing rain to the deep black of the dead of night as I listened to Edward's erratic breathing. Rain began to beat down on the windows, and Edward began to toss and turn in his bed.

"Can't sleep... fucking brown eyes...," he mumbled. I stared over at him, wondering what sort of spontaneous words he was going to utter next. "Need to... can't...," he murmured. There was a loud sigh, and he sat up in bed, looking over at me. He sighed again when he saw me and buried his head in his hands.

It was a good five minutes before he moved again, this time getting out of the bed and rubbing his eyes blearily. It was actually sort of cute, coupled with the boxers and holey T-shirt he was wearing, and I had to remind myself that he was the reason I was the way I was now.

I got up from the rocking chair and followed him out to the hallway, where he seemed to have found a random pair of jeans and was pulling them on. He walked slowly down the stairs, and grabbed his truck keys off the coffee table in front of the couch where Alice still slept on.

I trailed him out to the truck and got in the passenger side. He started up the engine and I sighed, asking, "Where are we going at this time of the night, anyway? Going to rob another bank?"

He cringed noticeably, but still said nothing.

"When are you going to accept that I'm real?" I asked rhetorically.

We continued to drive in silence until I finally noticed the direction we were heading, having driven it many times before in my life, from various directions. "We're going to the hospital. That's interesting," I mumbled. Edward ignored me.

He pulled into the parking lot and cut the engine, pushing the door open and walking resolutely toward the entrance. I followed him as he walked up to the receptionist's desk and asked something under his breath that I couldn't be bothered to try and hear. She seemed reluctant to answer him, but relented after he muttered something else.

He headed down the long hallway behind the receptionist's desk, in the direction of the emergency.

"Who are you visiting at this time of night?" I asked. He disregarded me, yet again. "And in the ICU, too..." I muttered as he turned down the hallway that had a big sign reading 'Intensive Care Unit'.

I watched the room numbers go by: _299...301...303... _Edward stopped in front of 303 and opened the door. I was about to step through the door after him, curious to see who it was he was visiting, when I noticed who was sitting outside the door.

_Charlie._

He was fast asleep in one of the very uncomfortable hospital waiting room chairs, head lolling to one side. It broke my heart to see him looking like this—and it clued me in to just who Edward happened to be visiting. As much as it hurt me to leave Charlie alone out here, I slipped into the room after Edward.

Edward was standing by the bed, looking down at what I presumed to be me. I quickly walked over to see.

Looking down at the person in the bed, I could barely recognize it as me for all the road burn spread across one cheek and the machines surrounding the bed. It wasn't as if I hadn't been in the hospital before—I'd just never seen myself in the hospital. But I assumed it must be me, considering my own father had been outside the door.

I stood next to Edward for a bit, waiting for him to do or say something to indicate why he'd decided to come here. When he didn't, an idea of my own popped into my head. I hopped up onto the bed and attempted to stick my hand into the real Bella's body. It went right through. I moved so that I was lined up correctly with all of real Bella's body parts and lay down. I was trying to see if I would stick inside her, where I was supposed to be.

I sat up and sighed. It wasn't working, obviously. I glanced over at Edward to see him snickering. I raised my eyebrows. "You think that's funny?"

Edward sighed. "I don't know how to say this," he mumbled.

I was stunned into silence. Mr Silent himself was actually talking? Amazing.

"You... you weren't meant to be hurt. I know I was doing illegal things, and what the hell is the difference if I do one more thing—hell, it wasn't even me that shot you, it was Alice—but I had a reason for wanting to rob the bank. My little girl has such a shitty life. I grew up with that, and I don't want the same thing for her." His voice broke and I looked up at him. A tear fell down his face, a perfect mimic of one of the raindrops outside. "I'm sorry," he sobbed out. "I am truly sorry."

I blinked. So many things that I'd been puzzling over all day had just become clear to me and my head was spinning so fast that I could barely control any of my thought processes.

"I forgive you," I blurted out, not realizing how true it was until I said it. My last syllable hung in the air just before one of the machines hooked up to my body began to beep erratically. I looked down, watching as my body faded from view. I smiled sadly and looked back up at the two brilliant green, tear-filled eyes before the world disappeared.

~*~

The little girl ran after her father, pink balloon bobbing on one wrist, entwining her unoccupied hand in his and looking up at him. He smiled down at her.

"Daddy, what happened to the girl that was at daycare yesterday?" she asked.

Her father widened his eyes, shaking his head. "You could see her?"

Her little girl frowned. "Of course. She was there, wasn't she?"

He laughed. "I suppose she was. You see, she had to go away. She was just visiting for a little bit."

"Aww. I wanted to play with her. She looked really nice. Was she nice?"

Her father nodded solemnly. "She was a very nice girl."

"Where did she go?" she asked.

"I'm not sure..." The little girl's father stopped walking and knelt down in front of her. "Tell you what, why don't we send her a message, where ever she is?"

"Okay!" the little girl exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

Her father untied the balloon from the little girl's wrist and took a permanent marker out, scrawling 'Hey there, Bella' on the balloon before showing it to the little girl. "How's that?"

"Perfect!" the girl squealed.

Her father smiled and asked, "Do you want to let it go?" She nodded and took the string from him, letting go and watching as it floated up into the sky.

"I hope Bella likes it," the little girl said worriedly.

Her father smiled. "I hope she does too."

The two joined hands again and continued walking along the park trail.

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**Review?**


	3. Plea

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Plea**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Bella and Mike**  
Rating:** T

* * *

"Bella, please? Just this once?"

I sighed, shoving my English binder into my locker forcefully, imagining it was Mike I was shoving in there instead.

"No," I said adamantly.

"But Bella," he whined, "you promised we could go on one date. That's all I'm asking for. _One_!"

I resisted the urge to smack my head into the hard metal locker door, instead closing it gently and locking it.

"Mike, I'm sorry, but I'm in a relationship now. That doesn't allow for outside engagements."

He sighed and scuffed his sneaker on the ground. "I know. I shouldn't be so forgetful. I won't bother you anymore, I promise."

"Thank you." I brushed past him, heading to Trigonometry. When I glanced back, the only person left in the hallway was Mike, still standing dejectedly next to my locker, staring at his sneakers.

I bit my lip and turned around again, wondering if there were ever an easy solution to anything in life—and if so, where could I find it?

* * *

**Is not a drabble. Was not trying to make it a drabble. See, I win. ^^**

**Review?**


	4. Light

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Light**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Angela/Ben**  
Rating: **T

* * *

"Angela, please?" Ben begged. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I couldn't look at the tickets to the A Fine Frenzy concert anymore. They were such a kind gesture, one so full of love that I wanted to throw myself on Ben and never let go; I wanted to follow him everywhere he went and never have to be separated from him.

But I couldn't.

And that was why my life was so terrible.

There was honestly nothing wrong with babysitting Isaac and Joshua. I loved my little brothers; they were real cuties. There was nothing wrong with helping out Jessica or Lauren when they couldn't decide what to wear to the big dance.

The problem was that I was asked to babysit every moment of my free time—plus all my time that I didn't have. The problem was those days when Joshua and Isaac wouldn't listen to me and acted like complete brats. The problem was being asked over and over 'Do I look fat in this?' when I'd already informed the person in question that there was no way they could look fat—they were twigs, for God's sake.

And the problem was being overbooked to the point that I just wanted to scream until I couldn't scream anymore because of my stress level. I never had a moment to myself. I'd always thought I liked my life that way, but with Ben sitting in the chair next to me and those A Fine Frenzy tickets in front of me, I wasn't so sure.

"Angela?" Ben asked quietly, placing his hand on my shoulder. I peered out from between my fingers to see the tickets still lying there. I cringed and covered my face back up.

"Get rid of them," I moaned. "Just don't make me look at them."

"But, Ang, I thought you liked A Fine Frenzy..." The hurt tone in his voice was enough to make me look up at his face.

"I do, I do," I said quickly. It was the truth—I _really _loved A Fine Frenzy, which was why it was so hard to look at those tickets when I knew they were going to end up going to waste. And I also knew how hard those tickets were to get—Ben must have spent hours standing in line for them. The sinking feeling in my heart became worse and worse and a dark haze became settled around me. I sighed.

"So what's the deal?" Ben asked, obviously confused. "I thought this would be the perfect anniversary present, but you don't seem very psyched at all."

"Ben...," I said slowly, "I don't think I can go to the concert."

Ben's face dropped. He looked absolutely crushed and I could literally feel my heart crushing along with his mood. "Why not?"

I sighed. "My mother has this convention thing that weekend, and she wants me to stay home with Isaac and Joshua. I promised her I would help clean up around the house while she's gone, too, and—"

"Bullshit, Angela," Ben cut me off. I stared at him, startled. "Have you ever thought of doing something for yourself? It's always about everyone else—and I get that. That's what makes my Angela my Angela. But I see what all this work does to you, Angie, and I don't like it. This is not healthy behaviour for a teenager."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. There were no words for what I was feeling at that moment. Knowing something and having it said directly to your face were two very different things.

Finally, Ben sighed and whispered, "Angie?"

"Yeah?" I mumbled back.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know...," I replied, and the tears finally came. I sobbed into Ben's shoulder as he held me, murmuring comforting nonsense into my ear. "Ben?" I sobbed out. "Why am I crying?"

"It's okay," he hummed. "Just let it all out."

When I'd run out of tears, I sat back and wiped my eyes, blinking against the bright light.

"It's gone," I said, surprised.

"What's gone?" Ben asked.

"The haze... the dark haze that was surrounding me before."

Ben smiled. "That's proof that you've let it out—you've found the light."

I snorted. "That sounds so corny, like something my father would say in church. Not to mention sappy..." I leaned against the table with my hand on my forehead, chancing a glance down at the tickets that were still lying there. I sighed and looked back up at Ben's hopeful, searching face. "I don't know, Ben..."

"Please, Angela?" he persisted. "Do something for you."

I sighed again and picked up the tickets, looking at them dubiously. "Okay," I said finally. "I'll get my mom to see if she can get a different sitter for that night."

Ben's face broke out in a gigantic grin and he threw himself on me, wrapping his short arms around me. I hesitantly smiled and wrapped my own arms around him. "You won't regret this," Ben whispered in my ear.

"I know," I murmured back and I realized that truer words had never been spoken. Because in that moment, with Ben's arms wrapped around me, I felt safe, like time didn't matter—and that was all I really needed in life.

_Time—_for myself and with those I loved.

* * *

**Review, please?**


	5. Vivid

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Vivid**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Alice/Jasper**  
Rating: **K

* * *

The streets of Seattle were always interesting. There were people everywhere and no matter which street I wandered onto, I could usually find a good store to immerse myself in for awhile. And there were so many opportunities to take pictures—it was like photographer heaven.

That was probably why I loved it so much.

I set to the streets Saturday afternoon, Nikon camera in hand, my finger ready to snap that first picture. I wandered in the direction of downtown, scanning for the perfect first picture.

I finally found it after five minutes of walking—a little girl sitting in her father's lap on a bench, reading a book. I kneeled down to get a better angle and snapped. _Perfection._

The pictures after the very first one aren't as important to me, though each picture is always a work of art. I continued to walk along the streets, raising my camera to my eye whenever I spot a particularly pretty flower, or a funny sign, or just strange people doing strange things. I was easily amused.

By three o'clock, I had walked halfway across the city and my feet were aching. I decided to stop at the next coffee shop I found—and not two minutes later, I spotted one just across the street.

I crossed at the next crosswalk and doubled back, snapping a picture of the red and black painted cafe before slipping inside. I snapped a few random pictures of the inside, the random finger-paint art on the walls and the cute little booths, then collapsed into a bar stool at the counter. A brunette came up to me, wiping his hands on a rag.

"What can I get you?" he asked.

"A small, black coffee to go, please," I said, smiling. He nodded and walked away, only to return almost too quickly for my tired feet. I hopped off the bar stool and paid, waving as I walked toward the door.

Just as I was about to close the door behind me, I got an urge and turned back to snap one last picture of the quaint little cafe. _Why the hell not, _I thought. _I'll probably never be back here._

~*~

The next morning, I sat in front of my computer, scrolling through the many photos I'd taken yesterday. There were some real keepers in the load, but some were just so terrible that I couldn't even tell what I'd been taking a picture of.

Suddenly, picture number 1948 popped up in front of me and my finger stopped moving the mouse's wheel. It was the picture I'd taken when leaving the cafe yesterday, but today I noticed an addition to it. Standing next to one of the booths at the very back was a blonde man with a beautiful face; he made everything else in the picture seem dull, though the cafe's decor was very bright. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes from his face.

Barely registering what I was doing, I stood up, grabbing my car keys off the coffee table and running out of my apartment. I full-out ran to the parking garage where my car was and pulled out into the Seattle traffic.

I tried my hardest to retrace yesterday's path, but I still ended up a street over before having to circle around and park on the wrong street anyway.

I didn't know why I was going back to the cafe, anyway, since I didn't even know if the man in the picture would be there. But something was pulling me there; I had a gut feeling about it.

I opened the door to the cafe and walked in. Sitting directly across from the door, in one of the bar stools, was the man from the picture. He glanced over his shoulder, then smiled and spun around to face me. I grinned; he was even more vivid in person than in the picture.

"You've kept me waiting a long time," he commented.

I smiled and tilted my head to the side. "I'm sorry, sir."

He grinned and hopped off the stool, holding his hand out to me. "Jasper," he said.

"Alice," I replied, taking his hand.

We both smiled, and I knew that my gut feeling had been right.

* * *

**Happy Birthday to Leon, because I can. :)**

**Review, please?**


	6. Sour

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Sour**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Bella/Edward**  
Rating: **K

* * *

Five year old Bella Swan sat back in her lime green plastic chair, crossing her arms. "I won. I ate twenty sour candies, and you only ate nineteen."

"I ate twenty-one, didn't I, Alice?" Edward Cullen turned to his sister, who was seven, a year old than Edward.

Alice pursed her lips and shrugged. "I counted twenty for Bella, nineteen for Edward," she said.

"I won!" Bella shrieked victoriously, throwing up her arms.

"No, you didn't!" Edward protested.

"Yes, I did. Alice said."

"Alice is lying! She hates me; she doesn't want me to win."

"I'm not lying!" Alice yelled. "I counted! You're just jealous because Bella is younger than you and she _still _won."

Edward pouted. "I am not," he mumbled.

Bella's eyes widened. "You are." She giggled. "Eddie's jealous of me!"

"I _said _I _wasn't_!" Edward objected, lunging across the table at Bella, who only giggled again, dodging out of his way.

"Calm down, Edward," she said, hands on her hips, looking down her nose at the fuming six year old. "It was just a game, anyway. Wanna go play tag outside?"

Edward sat back in his chair, blinking at her sudden change of mood. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Only if you're It."

Bella shrugged. "Sure." She reached out and touched Alice's shoulder. "You're It!" she yelled as she ran away. "Run, Edward, run!"

She grabbed his hand on her way past and they ran out of the shop together, Alice chasing behind them.

* * *

**Review?**


	7. Walls

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt:** Walls  
**Pen name:** TRDancer  
**Pairing:** Bella/Edward  
**Rating:** T

* * *

Edward Cullen sat at his computer, staring at the document he had open. It was the final chapter of his novel, or so he hoped. He had to get this to his editor by Monday, four PM at the latest.

It was eight o'clock on Sunday night.

Bella, his girlfriend, had already called him multiple times, asking him if he'd finished it yet. He'd promised that as soon as he was done, she could read it, and she was getting impatient and worried. "What if you don't finish by the deadline?" she'd asked on the last phone call. He'd sighed and pointed out that he'd already considered that, and if she'd stop calling him, maybe he could finish writing.

But even taking his home phone off the hook and turning his cell off wasn't helping. There was a wall in Edward's brain, and he couldn't get past it.

He sat with his chin propped in his hands, staring straight at the bright white screen, blinking as little as possible. He tried to keep his thoughts focused on little Garrett and Kate and their friends and the happy ending for them that he was supposed to be creating, but his thoughts kept drifting away, to things like how much he wanted to eat turkey _(when would Thanksgiving be here, anyway?), _what he was going to buy Bella for Christmas _(would she like jewellery? Clothes?), _and God's sake, that deadline (_shit)_. His thoughts snapped back to Garrett, Kate, and Company.

Garrett had asked Kate to the prom. Kate had said yes, gushing and blushing included. The problem was Tanya. What was Edward going to do with Tanya? He didn't know, and that was a problem. A big one.

Edward continued to sit in front of his computer for hours. He watched the time go by in the bottom right hand corner of his screen, each minute another moment of failure.

_Tanya. Tanya. Tanya. _

Her name beat a steady rhythm in Edward's mind, always repeating, never ending. He considered bringing in a pack of zombies to kill her off – but no, that would require killing everyone, and besides, Tanya didn't deserve to die, no matter how much she'd rivalled for Garrett's attention throughout the story. He thought about pairing her off with the teacher, but quickly wrote that off as pure insanity – it was nearing two in the morning, after all.

_Where is your happy ending, little girl?_ Edward wondered. He scoured the pages before for a hint as to what was meant for Tanya. He cursed himself for not planning out his stories before writing them.

A loud knock at Edward's apartment door woke him with a start. He checked the time and found it to be six AM. Though he had a strong urge to ignore the door, he got up and answered it.

He opened it to see Bella, hair still wet from the rain outside, wearing what she called her 'comfy outfit', and bearing Starbucks coffee. She grinned at him and pushed her way in. "Still stuck?" she asked.

"Yes," he mumbled, taking his venti black coffee from her and sipping from it.

"Let me see," she demanded.

Edward attempted to protest—he didn't like anyone reading something that was incomplete—but Bella grabbed the laptop off the desk and dragged it over to the bed where she was sitting, scrolling through the pages of typed script before Edward even had time to move from his place leaning against the door.

After a few silent moments, Bella looked up at Edward. "I don't see the problem. You're so close."

Edward groaned. "Tanya. I don't know what to do with Tanya."

Bella raised her eyebrows. "I see." She went back to scanning the document. It was scarcely a minute before she looked back up at him, confusion in her eyes. "Tanya, you said?" Edward nodded. "The strawberry blonde that's been after Garrett?" Edward nodded again, surprised that Bella had picked up so much of the story just from skimming. "Huh." Bella went back to scrolling.

"Why?" Edward asked.

Bella sighed. "I don't know, it just seems like she should be with this Eric person. He seems to keep showing up in all her scenes. It's like he likes her or something. She could realize her love for him. Or, at least, her not complete hatred..."

Edward's eyes brightened and he leaped in Bella's direction, pushing the laptop off her lap and onto the bed, attacking her with kisses. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Bella giggled. "If you have, I don't remember. Would you like to refresh my memory?"

"A lot. A fucking lot." He crawled off Bella and grabbed the laptop, starting to type madly, the wall in his mind gone. "Now, shoo, woman. I have writing to do."

She laughed again and stood up. "What a great thank you," she said sarcastically.

"You love me," he mumbled, transfixed by the words appearing on the screen.

"Every second of every day," she agreed, bending down to kiss his cheek. He turned and caught her on the mouth.

"And I you," he whispered before turning back to the computer.

Bella almost thought she could feel her heart melting as she sat down and curled into his side, sipping on her coffee and, later, Edward's as rain beat down on the window and Edward's fingers ceaselessly beat down on the keyboard, creating a rhythm that eventually lulled Bella to sleep.

* * *

**Okay, I had major writer's block. There was a wall in my mind. There probably still is, for every other fic I write, so you may not get updates on SG or MUP, k? I'm really, really sorry. **

**Review, please? :)**


	8. Awkward

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Awkward**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Bella/Edward**  
Rating: **T

* * *

"I think you should go talk to him," Lauren hissed in my ear.

I shook my head. "No way. He's too... pretty."

She snorted and pushed me off my lab stool, in his direction. "Go."

"But... but..." I stammered.

"But what, Jess?"

"What if he flat-out rejects me? Look how _pretty _he is, Lauren," I whined.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and get your ass over there."

I obeyed, hesitantly taking steps toward the beautiful, untouchable creature. With each step my sense of panic grew. It was all well and good for Lauren to insist that I come and talk to him—she had a boyfriend. She associated with boys. I was an introvert. I didn't do people well.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, I slid into the empty lab stool next to the beautiful creature and leaned on the blacktop, angling my shoulders toward him. He seemed to be ignoring me, intently scribbling something in his notebook. I sighed and shifted position.

"Um, hello?"

He grunted a noise that sounded a bit like "Hi."

I decided that was the best I was going to get and continued. "I'm Jess. Actually, Jessica, but no one calls me that. I don't really like it. You're Edward, right? The new kid?"

Another grunt and the continued scritch-scratch of his pen on the paper.

I pursed my lips and tilted my head a bit, leaning closer to him. "What are you writing?" I asked, not trying to look at the paper, but rather, at his face.

He moved away from me a bit, tucking the notebook more securely beneath his arm. He put a period on a sentence, and for the first time, looked up at me.

_Oh my God, pure sex drips from his face. _

I blinked a few times in a row, trying to compose myself. As I did so, his face seemed to light up, and he grinned. I frowned – _that's odd. What did I do?_

Then I noticed that he was focusing behind me, and I turned to see a brunette walking toward us, grinning just as big as he was.

_Oh shit._

I cleared my throat and stood up, almost falling over the stool in my haste. "Well, um, Edward, it was nice to meet you. I hope you like Forks, and, uh, stuff."

He nodded a bit, still focused on the girl, who slid into the seat I'd just vacated happily. I trudged back to mine and Lauren's lab table, collapsing into my spot just as the bell for class to begin rang.

"So?" Lauren asked.

"Shut up," I snapped.

* * *

**Review, please?**


	9. Jealousy

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Jealousy  
**Pen name: **TRDancer  
**Pairing: **Esme/Carlisle  
**Rating: **T

* * *

"Hi, is Dr Masen available?" I heard Esme's voice coming from the reception desk and wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion. What was she doing here? And asking for my supervisor, of all people? I pushed my office chair back and went to the door.

"Yes, I'll call him for you," the receptionist said. I stepped out of my office and walked over to Esme, who was standing awkwardly in front of the desk, holding a plastic container of something I couldn't identify.

"Hey, Esme," I said, smoothing back my gelled hair.

Her face broke out into a wide smile. "Carlisle!"

I smiled back at her. "So what are you doing here? What's in the container?" I questioned.

"Oh, I brought some cookies for Dr Masen," she told me, holding up the container and shaking it a bit.

I frowned. "You mean you're giving away those cookies that I saw on the counter this morning? The white chocolate macadamia nut ones? But those are my favourite!" I was aware that I was near whining, but I didn't particularly care.

"Well, yes. You've been telling me all these stories about how supportive Dr Masen is to you, how he's really just the greatest supervisor you could hope for, and I wanted to thank him for not overworking you to the point where I never get to see you!" Esme explained.

"Oh," I coughed out. "That's nice of you, honey."

"I thought it was," she huffed. "You know, if I didn't know you better, Carlisle, I might think you were jealous." She peered at me suspiciously, and I almost hacked out a lung.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose you might," I said weakly before fleeing into the safety of my office.

* * *

**Thanks to Leon for suggesting cookies and checking this one for me. :)**

**Review?**


	10. Crave

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Crave  
**Pen name: **TRDancer  
**Pairing: **Bella/Edward  
**Rating: **T

* * *

It was the perfect day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the grasses were softly brushing against each other in mine and Edward's meadow. The sun glinted off Edward's skin perfectly as he lay with his eyes closed, no doubt enjoying the feeling of the rare sunlight on his skin. I admired each of his features with the same fascination as when I'd first seen him.

All of a sudden, I just couldn't take it anymore. "Edward, I want you," I breathed out, reaching my fingers toward his face, laying them softly on his cheek and trailing them downward.

His eyes fluttered open. "Bella..." He seemed to be struggling internally as he lifted his hand and easily moved my hand away from him, though I was trying with all my strength to keep it on his skin. "Bella, I can't."

"Why not?" I whined.

He sighed. "I want you, too. So badly. But I want your blood too much. It kills me to even be this close to you and not taste--" He broke off and took a shuddering breath, dropping my hand and jumping to his feet.

"Shit," I mumbled, staring at the place where he had been laying, wishing he were still there.

"I know," Edward said softly from above me.

"Yeah, no one can ever get what they want around here, can they?" a peppy voice inserted from behind Edward.

"Alice!?"

* * *

**Thanks to Marie for brainstorming and Leon for checking.**

**Review, please? :D**


	11. Wood

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Wood  
**Pen name: **TRDancer  
**Pairing: **Rosalie/Emmett  
**Rating: **T

**

* * *

**

"Rosalie!" I called out for what had to be the millionth time. I pulled my sweater closer around me, cursing my neglect to bring an actual jacket, and continued to stumble through the snow that blanketed the ground between the trees. "Rose!"

I had wandered off the trail when hiking through the woods that morning, completely losing my sense of direction, and it was now nearing nightfall, the air growing colder with each passing minute. I had left before Rosalie had woken, intending to be right back, so I knew she had no idea where I was and was mostly likely worried sick. I hoped to God that she was okay at the campsite by herself—she was smart, she had been camping before, I reassured myself.

It was more myself that I should worry about at this point in time. If I didn't find my way back as soon as possible, I was going to freeze out here. I was already cold as it was.

I had been looking for potential landmarks all day and not finding anything. Everything looked the same to me, an endless blur of tree after tree after tree. I was a city boy at heart; Rose was the camper.

I stopped walking and looked around. I was exhausted from walking all day, but I had enough sense to know that if I stopped to rest and possibly fell asleep, that made my chances of getting hypothermia even higher. I could already feel my teeth starting to chatter, though it was still controllable. I plodded on, searching and yelling Rose's name.

I was now shivering uncontrollably, and I was tempted to just collapse against a tree and sleep, but the thought of Rosalie waiting anxiously for me kept my feet moving. My hands were tucked into the opposite arm pit.

Suddenly, I felt very scared and confused. I tried to yell Rose's name again, but no sound emerged from my lips. I tried again and again and again, still stumbling blindly through the snow. I finally fell against a tree and felt the cold, textured wood beneath my cheek, angling my head up to the sky, where I could see a column of smoke reaching for the sky. I closed my eyes, trying to stop the shivering.

_Smoke._

I opened my eyes again and pushed away from the tree, dragging my feet now in the direction of the pillar of smoke. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky as I trudged through the thick threes, brushing past pines and spruce and ignoring their needles when they stuck in my sweater.

Finally, I emerged in a clearing. I glimpsed a red tent, a picnic table, and, between the two, a roaring fire, flickering happily. I stumbled toward it, only to find myself falling to the rocky ground and landing in a pair of heavily padded arms. I looked up into the face of an angel and smiled.

"Rose," I managed to croak out.

"Emmett," she breathed, "thank God."

* * *

**dolphinherovamp5's idea, Leon's beginning (that "Rosalie!"? All him. ;) and amazing checking, without which I may have never posted it. 3**

**Review, please?**


	12. Mirror

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Mirror  
**Pen name: **TRDancer  
**Pairing: **Mike/Jessica  
**Rating: **T

* * *

I was everywhere. At first I could only stare, transfixed, wondering where all the other Jessicas were coming from. Then I realized that there were mirrors on every square inch of the room where I was standing, so that no matter where I looked, I could still see every inch of my body. I cringed and hid my face in my hands, wishing they would all go away, though I knew that hiding my face wasn't helping. The mirrors were still there, after all. The hundreds of Jessicas with their frizzy poof-ball of hair, short stature, and chubbiness were not disappearing.

I peered out from between my fingers and scanned the walls, looking for a way out. When I realized that it was all seamless reflective glass with no visible door, I moaned and covered my eyes again. I was stuck. There was no way I could get out of here.

I looked up again compulsively, somehow drawn to looking at myself, though I hated what I saw. It was then that something in my perspective changed. I realized that the room of mirrors was actually a hallway, and I became excited, thinking there must be a way out. I started to rush forward.

I continued to follow the hallway through it's random twists and turns, hoping that there was an end to the mirrors at some point. _Please, God, let there be an end. I can't take it anymore._ My pace quickened from a fast walk to a jog and finally to an all-out run as I turned each corner blindly, never stopping to see what was coming ahead.

I couldn't run anymore. I came to a stop, breathing hard, my already ugly face made uglier by the red flush that spread across it, reflected a hundred times in the mirrors that surrounded me. I focused on a place in the mirror in front of me which had no trace of my reflection and breathed in and out evenly, trying to catch my breath. As I stared at the mirror, a small crack spread up from it, only hairline at first, but becoming larger with every inch it crept across the glass.

I heard the noise of breaking glass shrieking in my ears and looked up to see cracks spreading across all the mirrors, forming a huge spider web on the surface. As I watched, a small piece of a glass fell from the top of a mirror, bursting into a million pieces when it hit the ground.

I sensed that the world was about to crash in on me, and I ran. Glass crashed down in my wake, narrowly missing hitting me at some points. I ran as fast as I could, but it wasn't fast enough. The glass began to catch up with me. A piece hit me in the cheek and I nearly tripped and fell before continuing on.

I saw a light much brighter than the dullness that was the hallways of mirrors and headed straight for it. As I got closer to it, I recognized it as blonde hair, blue eyes, smiling face—Mike. I pumped my legs ever faster, trying to get to him.

I was just about to him when the last mirror cracked and began to fall, seemingly in slow motion, toward my head. I lifted my arms above my head and screamed.

I saw only black then.

~*~

I shot up in bed, breathing hard and hugging my fuzzy blanket to my chest. Tears were pouring down my face and my breathing was out of whack.

It was always that dream.

Every night.

_That dream._

I squeezed the blanket tighter and buried my face in it. "Mike," I whispered.

_It was always that dream._

* * *

**Thanks to Bronze for picking the word and having faith, Zee for listening to me ramble about weird things, and Marie for showing up halfway through and making my day three billion times better. And Leon, for being an effing brat.**

**Review?**


	13. Heart

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt:** Heart**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Nessie/Jacob**  
Rating: **T

* * *

I sighed and opened my locker, the metal door crashing into the locker beside with the force I used. I started shoving in books and taking out others. Today had not been fun.

It had started off crappy, with my alarm choosing to not go off, therefore not waking me up. My door had been pounded on by my mother, telling me I had five minutes before the bus came, and was I ready to go?

No, Mother, I'm not. Sorry.

So I had to walk around the school all day feeling greasy and disgusting because I hadn't had time to shower. My clothes didn't match—my old, flower-embroidered jeans paired with my father's college sweatshirt was an outfit that I couldn't pull off. Not to mention the fact that when I'd arrived at school I'd realized it was Valentine's Day, and I'd had the perfect outfit planned. The hearts plastered all over the lockers taunted me everywhere I went for various reasons--some jeered at my clothes, some giggled at my obvious bed-head, and still others, the majority of them, laughed at the fact that I didn't have a boyfriend. I had no one to celebrate Valentine's Day with.

Whoever created Valentine's Day needed to be shot. What a pointless holiday.

At lunch, Claire had hastily apologized to me before running off to sit with her probably-more-than-a-crush-now, Quil, leaving me to sit at a table alone and pity myself.

The teachers in every class had piled the homework on, probably trying to discourage any paired off students from doing anything nasty tonight. As if that would stop them--their homework would be incomplete and the single people would have it done perfectly, having been trying to distract themselves from the so-called glory of the holiday.

Thank you, teachers, for this lesson in relationships.

By far the worst part of my day had been the constant presence of my crush wherever I was. It seemed that no matter what class I was in, where I went during break, etcetera, he was there. On any other day it would have been fine--Jacob was eye-candy, the best kind. But today he was a reminder of everything I didn't have and everything I wanted.

I slammed the locker door shut and began to shove my books into my bag, glad that I was about to get out of here. I was excited to get home and shower and put on proper clothes.

A burst of red paper in the midst of my books caught my eye, and I grabbed it out to see what it was. My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at it.

It was a heart cut out of construction paper, the kind we used to make back in elementary school. On it, in black permanent marker, it read: _You are beautiful in every way. --Your Secret Admirer._ I smiled and folded it up, tucking it into the pocket of my jeans before picking my bag up and heading out to the bus.

I sat by myself, near the front. I leaned my head against the window and stared blankly out at the world, waiting for the bus to start moving. The doors closed and the wheels started to pull out of the parking lot, but stopped abruptly, the doors swinging open again. A tall boy with dark skin ran onto the bus, thanking the bus driver. The driver nodded and began to pull out again.

I was only interested in this exchange because the boy in question was not supposed to be on my bus. It was Jacob.

Surprisingly, he sat down in the seat across the aisle from me. I glanced at him, and then back out the window, pretending to not care.

About five minutes away from the school, I felt the seat next to me move and looked over to see that Jacob was now sitting next to me, grinning.

"Hey, Nessie."

"Hi."

"How was your day?"

I shrugged, completely mystified as to why he was talking to me. "Pretty terrible, actually. Yours?"

"It was okay. Why was your day terrible?" he wondered.

"A number of reasons," I avoided. "The main one being that it's Valentine's Day."

He laughed. "What's wrong with Valentine's Day?"

"Nothing when you aren't single," I said bitterly.

"I see." He nodded. "So you don't have any secret admirers? No special valentines were left for you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well, actually..." I pulled out the heart from my pocket and offered it to him. "This was in my locker. You wouldn't happen to know who sent it, would you?"

He took it and unfolded it, studying it closely. He hummed to himself as he did so, nodding. He was taking so long that I went back to looking out the window instead of watching him. Finally, he folded it again and handed it back. "Sorry, no idea."

"Oh," I sighed out. "I thought you might know."

"Why don't you try looking at it again? Maybe you'll recognize the handwriting if you look close enough."

I was pretty sure I had no idea whose handwriting it was, but I decided to follow his suggestion, anyway.

When I opened the heart again, the first thing I noticed was the new line of text, this time in blue pen ink, just below the "signature."

_I'm closer than you think. _

I raised my eyebrows as realization came over me. "It's you, isn't it?" I said, turning to Jacob.

He smirked. "Maybe."

I frowned. "Just tell me, please."

"What do you think, Nessie?"

"I think it's you!" I said, frustrated.

"And aren't you usually right?" he prompted.

I blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"At any rate," he continued, "you are this time. Good detective skills, Ness."

My jaw dropped.

Maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so stupid after all.

And maybe I wouldn't be getting any homework done tonight.

* * *

**Freya was super cool and picked my word for me (even though she had no idea what she was doing). Write or Die kicked my fingers into motion. **

**Review?**


	14. Touch

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Touch**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Bella/Edward**  
Rating: **T

* * *

"What do you think?"

"Perfect. You've got the touch."

I turned to Edward, raising an eyebrow. "The touch, you say? What sort of touch are we talking about here?"

"Whatever sort of touch you want it to be. There are a lot of synonyms for touch."

"Indeed there are. But which one did you mean originally?" I pressed.

He flashed his sexy grin at me. "That's for me to know, and for you to... possibly find out." He quirked an eyebrow and I grabbed his tie, pulling him to me and kissing him.

"I didn't mean the literal sense, Bella."

* * *

**Rwar.**


	15. Crusade

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Crusade**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Mike/One of his best friends**  
Rating: **T

* * *

It started on an innocent Friday morning.

I'd decided to go out and stock up on groceries, and, when I left the store toting my various bags, I disregarded the people in front of the store, walking past them and to my car. Looking back, I saw the letters TWLOHA emblazoned across the top of the booth. I idly wondered what it meant, and when I got home, I Googled it to find out that it was an organization called To Write Love on Her Arms that was all about preventing suicide. I decided that was nice and that maybe I would donate something to it, then promptly forgot about it.

That is, until I got that devastating phone call telling me that one of my best friends, Mike, was dead—he had committed suicide.

Amidst the sorrow of his family and friends, I stared blankly at the floor of his parents' living room, wondering, just like everyone else, why Mike would do something like that. He had always seemed so happy...

I felt guilty for not stopping at the TWLOHA booth earlier—so guilty that I thought that maybe if I had it would have changed something. I jumped up and mumbled a sorry to all the people in the room that I'd startled, letting myself out of the front door.

I got into my car and drove as fast as was possible back to the grocery store, hoping that they were still there. Sure enough, they were. I got out of my car and ran up to the table.

When I got there, I froze. I suddenly didn't know what to say or do. One of the people looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi there! We're just about to pack up, but we thought we'd stay open a couple more minutes," the red haired woman said.

I smiled. "Thank God you did. I want to join... help... something."

"No problem. We love to see new volunteers."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Now I was on my way to helping others find hope in the world—I didn't want anyone else to end up like Mike.

It was all about letting everyone know that you loved them—because love is always the answer.

* * *

**It's TWLOHA Day where I am for another four minutes! :D Review, please.**


	16. Erosion

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Erosion**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Rose/Emmett**  
Rating:** T

* * *

I sat on the bed and stared blankly out the window, pulling my legs up to my chest.

"Rose? Are you in here?" Emmett appeared at the doorway and I tried to smile at him, but couldn't manage to.

He immediately came over to me. "What's wrong?" he asked, though he knew the answer.

I shook my head and buried my face in his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around me. We were silent for a moment, until he said, "You know I'm always here for you, right?"

I nodded weakly. "You won't let my heart wear away."

"Exactly."

* * *

**Rawr.**


	17. Retribution

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Retribution**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing: **Bella/Edward**  
Rating: **T

* * *

"Alice, this is serious," I reprimanded the hysterically laughing girl on my bed. She sniffled and hiccupped out another laugh before replying.

"Okay, okay. So," she burst into laughter again, "Lauren stole, hahaha, your, ha, cupcake, and now we need to, hahaha, get her back?"

"That's exactly what we need to do—that and _you_ need to stop _laughing._ She took my _cupcake_, Alice. The cupcake that Edward gave me! It's not a laughing matter!"

Alice covered her mouth with her hand, stifling more giggles as I glared at her. Finally she managed to stop laughing completely and said, "All right. So, what did you have in mind? Are we being outright cruel or will we keep it a little on the nicer side?"

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Alice, this was my—"

"—cupcake, yes, I know. So we want to get her back fair and square." She nodded her head devilishly. "I have the perfect plan."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I knew you would. So--"

"We'll take a gigantic vat of icing and dump it over her head at the earliest possible convenience," Alice deadpanned.

"Alice!" I yelled as she burst into another fit of giggles.

I sighed, ignoring her as she flopped back on the bed, still laughing, and began to pace the room.

"If you won't help me," I began to mutter to myself, "I'll just have to get Jasper. Or Emmett. Maybe even Edward or Rose..."

"No," Alice cut in, her tone serious. "You can't let any of them try to help you."

"Well you're not helping!" I pointed out.

"I was kidding, Bella! Now, here's what we'll actually do..."

~*~

It turned out that the plan did not involve icing, though it did involve super glue.

Specifically, super glue on Lauren's desk seat in English.

It took a mass amount of effort for both Alice and me not to laugh when Lauren sat down at the beginning of class—because, after all, good pranksters know that only the culprits _know_ to laugh before something has actually happened, but we managed it. It was only at the end of class, when the bell ran for Trig, that we finally lost it—but that was okay, because by then everyone else had too, at the sight of Lauren trying and failing to get out of her desk.

"What the hell?" she screeched, bouncing up and down stupidly.

"No swearing in my class," the teacher reprimanded without looking up from her desk, which only made us laugh even harder.

"Careful, there, Lauren, you might rip your pants," Alice warned as she walked past her.

"Maybe think twice the next time you take something that isn't yours?" I whispered in her ear, raising my eyebrows at her suggestively.

When I reached the doorway of my Trig class, Edward was standing there with a little frown on his face.

"Ooh, did I do something bad?" I questioned, tilting my head.

"What do you think, Bella?" he shot back playfully, tilting his head in the other direction.

"I would say that I didn't. Everyone deserves what's coming to them," I declared.

"And let me guess, super glue never hurt anybody?"

"Didn't think of that one. Thanks for the excuse, Edward!" I quipped.

"No problem," he said, rolling his eyes. "Get into class, Bella. And next time, just ask for another cupcake. Super glue is not required."

"But where's the fun in that?" I asked, walking into the classroom.

"I'll feed it to you," he suggested, following me.

"Point well made, deal closed."

* * *

**Happy.**

**Rawr.**


	18. Soft

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt: **Soft**  
Pen name: **TRDancer**  
Pairing:** Emmett/whomever you want**  
Rating:** T

* * *

"It's not soft."

"I didn't know it was supposed to be..."

"Well, it has soft in the name, so why wouldn't it be?"

"Because you can't play with it if it's soft."

"Then why name it that?"

"I have no idea. Why were you named Emmett?"

"Because my parents decided I would be."

"So maybe its parents decided to name it that."

"It doesn't _have_ parents."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Don't assume things, Emmett. Are you ready for the game?"

"I would be if you would just tell me why it's called softball!"

"Why does it matter!?"

* * *

**Ooh, rawr. :D**


	19. Sky

**The Twilight Twenty-Five  
Prompt:** Sky**  
Pen name:** TRDancer**  
Pairing:** Any two people you like**  
Rating:** T

* * *

_Dear Love,_

_It pains me to be away from you, but I know I'm truly helping our country as long as I am here. I promise that I will make it back to you, even if I have to go through a million fires in hell to do it._

_Just remember that when you look up at the sky, I am under that same sky, looking up at it and thinking of you. I will never be far away._

_I love you._

A tear involuntarily slid down my cheek as I folded the letter and looked up into the sky.

* * *

**Look, another! ;)**


	20. Voracious

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Voracious**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Jasper/Alice**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

It was dark out, but, thanks to my vampire vision, I could still see perfectly. I ran through the woods, crashing through branches and occasionally ploughing through a tree in my haste to get to where I was going.

Though where that was, I didn't know.

I ran and ran and ran and ran until I finally reached the edge of nowhere and fell to my knees, screaming out Alice's name.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and instinctively shrugged it off, muttering, "Don't touch me."

There was a sigh and crunching of leaves as Emmett kneeled down next to me.

"Jasper, you need to stop this."

I turned to look at him. "Why would I need to stop this? Emmett, I don't think you understand. They took her away from me. She's not here anymore."

"I understand that, but this is not how you deal with it."

"Then how do I deal with it? I've searched everywhere for her. They're not in Volterra anymore, they're nowhere in North America, they're not in the Arctic, they're not in Australia, they're not in Asia, they're not in Europe, they're nowhere. Nowhere."

"Well... Jasper, don't you think that since they took her with a UFO, they might be in space?"

"Of course! But there's no way in hell I'll ever be able to get to _space._"

"Have you tried?"

"Yes, Emmett, I have tried. I hung around the space center for weeks. They're not planning any launches for years."

Emmett was silent. "But—"

"But what!?"

He sighed. "I don't know."

"What I don't understand is how she didn't see it coming. Were aliens blocking her visions? The kicker is that I'll never know. Not unless I find her..."

He didn't reply.

"Fucking Jane and her UFOs," I mumbled. "Well, Emmett, you can tell them I said it was a good time living with you guys, but I just can't survive without Alice. Bye."

And I jumped into the water.

* * *

**This is lame, but it is words.**

**That is all I need.**

**Rawr.**


	21. Juvenile

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Juvenile**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Jasper/Alice**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

I stepped outside and let the sun's heat hit me. I loved this house that we had just moved into. It was so different from our old home.

I sat down on the steps and opened the book I was reading, only to close it again. It was too nice of a day to be reading.

The sound of a car door slamming startled me into looking up from the flower I had been examining. Crossing the street toward my house was my next-door neighbour, a man in his late twenties. His wife had been over just yesterday to give us what she called 'welcome brownies'. Following just behind him was a teenage guy, hands shoved into his pockets and a black hood covering his face. As they passed by the curb, he glanced up at me. I stared at him, mesmerized by the gray eyes with blonde hair falling into them. It was only split second before he looked down again, but in that split second, I thought I saw something I recognized in his eyes.

Slightly disgruntled, I got up and went into the house, wandering into the kitchen where my mother was cooking supper.

"Hey, Mom," I began.

"Yes, Alice?"

"Do you know anything about that guy that was just crossing the street with the neighbour?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" she asked, turning to look at me.

I sighed. "The woman that came over yesterday's husband just crossed the street with a teenage boy following him. I wondered who he was."

Realization lit up her eyes. "Oh, Esme was talking about that. It's her son. He just got out of the juvenile detention center today. You should meet him, Alice. You'd probably be a good influence."

"Maybe I'll go over there sometime." I shrugged noncommittally.

School began less than a week after that, and I noted the fact that neighbour boy attended the same school as me, and, in fact, had quite a few of the same classes. Through roll calls, I learned that his name was Jasper.

I continued to watch from afar as he went about his daily business, reprimanded many a time for wearing his hood in class and walking around with his head down most of the time, hiding his face with his chin length blonde curls if he couldn't manage to get away with having his hood up.

It wasn't rare for me to look up and see him looking at me, but I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or if he was actually watching me just as I was watching him.

I got my answer on a dark, stormy night.

Walking home late from the library, I decided to cut through the back alleys to save time and get out of the pouring rain sooner. As I jogged through the alley, I spotted a shadow up ahead and slowed my pace, squinting in an effort to see what it was.

As I got closer, I realized it was a human—a human standing under the eaves of a store building. Not thinking about all the possibilities of it being a total creeper, I went up the person.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked over the sound of the rain beating down.

The figure turned its head to look at me, and then turned back to the wall in front of them. I frowned as they lifted a hand and started to spray something on the wall.

"What are you doing?" I repeated.

"Tagging the wall," the figure replied in a familiar voice. I recognized it as Jasper.

"Jasper? Hey, stop." I reached out and grabbed the wrist that held the spray paint, pulling it toward me and taking the can. "You only just got back from juvie a month ago."

"So?"

"So?! You're risking being arrested again! What did you put on the wall?"

"Nothing. You stopped me," he replied dully.

"What were you going to put on the wall?" I pressed.

"Words. Pictures. I don't know."

I snorted. "You can do that on paper, Jasper." I kept my hold on his wrist and dragged him out into the rain, leading him in the direction of our houses.

"It's not as much of an adrenaline rush," he mumbled.

"Adrenaline? For God's sake, go bungee jumping or something!"

"Bungee jumping isn't illegal," he stated quite clearly.

I frowned. "Why would it have to be illegal?"

"I've been watching you, you know."

"Nice topic change," I noted. "What have you seen?"

"You're a perfectionist. You're quiet, but you wouldn't be if you had someone to talk to. You like to wear out of the box clothing and it suits you even though it would just look bad on anyone else. You watch me as well. Your turn, Miss Alice. What have you learned from watching me?"

"Not as much as you know about me."

"I want to know what."

"You're quiet and you like it that way. You don't want to be in school and you think the teachers are stupid. You wear the same hoodie all the time—you're wearing it right now."

We were, by this time, standing at the end of his driveway, completely soaked with the rain.

"You wish you weren't alone," I added quietly.

He didn't reply. I stared up at him, watching his eyes, but they gave nothing away, just stared over my head blankly.

"You aren't alone, you know," I said, louder this time.

"And how would you know that?" he asked, flicking his eyes down to me.

"Because," I said simply, "you have me."

"You're so certain."

"Yes, I am."

I let my hand slip down from his wrist and tangled my fingers with his.

He squeezed my hand gently, and I smiled.

* * *

**Cheese.**


	22. Aesthetic

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Aesthetic**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Bella/Edward**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

He was a god.

His body was cut from stone, the perfect mix of masculine beauty and just pure man. His clothes clung to his skin in all the right places, accentuating his muscles.

That boy made me drool just by breathing.

I couldn't decide which was nicer—his chest or his abs, and so I continued to eye rape him shamelessly as he began to walk into the cafeteria, heading straight for me and dropping gracefully into the chair next to mine, grinning a hello.

It was extremely hard for me to believe that all that perfection was _mine_.

* * *

**:D**


	23. Platonic

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Platonic**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Bella/Jacob**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

"Bella?"

"Yes, Jake?"

"Did you know that I love you?"

I stared at him blankly. _Not this again._

Seeing the look on my face, he quickly backtracked and said, "No, no, don't worry. It's a friendship type of love."

"Ah. In that case, want to dance before Edward comes back?"

"Sure. Dancing is fun." He took my hand and led me out onto the floor.

"Oh no," Jake mumbled after a few rounds of the dance floor. "Here comes the leech."

"Don't call him that!"

"Sure, sure."

"Hey Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you, too."

He grinned like the dork he was.

* * *

**Tralalalala. Two more to go...**


	24. Stagnant

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Stagnant**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Bella/Edward**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

Sitting in the plush pink chair I spent my days in, I stared out the window at the falling leaves and sighed. The seasons were always changing—unlike me. I remained the same, day in and day out. The nursing home aides were always trying to convince me to come out and socialize with the other people that resided in the same building as me, but I preferred to sit in my room and linger on what memories still stayed with me.

I followed a particularly bright orange leaf with my eyes as it fell toward the ground. There was a huge gust of wind that stirred up clouds of leaves and causing me to lose sight of the leaf. Suddenly, in the leaves, I spotted a familiar figure, standing serenely with a smile on his face.

"Edward?" I whispered.

He lifted an arm and motioned for me to come to him with his finger. I immediately stood carefully and started toward my door, leaving my room and crossing the public area in the direction of the back door. I was almost there when a cool hand gently grasped my forearm and stopped me from moving.

"Well, well, Mrs Cullen. Where are we headed today?"

"Edward's out in the garden," I told the aide, squinting at her name tag. I smirked to myself when I realized she was new. "Lei, please let me go."

She frowned. "I don't know if I should. It's really very windy out there..."

"Please. I just want to go for a walk."

"Well, all right then. Just for a few minutes, then I'll come out to check on you." She released my arm and stepped back.

"Thank you," I muttered as I continued outside. I walked around the side of the building, using the fake brick to support myself and watching the ground for stray rocks, etcetera—I hadn't become less clumsy with age.

When I'd finally made it to the back garden, where I'd seen Edward, I stopped and looked around. He didn't seem to be anywhere. My heart sunk. _I knew he would stop loving me when I got old and wrinkled,_ I lamented to myself. _He hasn't been back in ages._

I walked tentatively to the tree he had been standing beside. "Edward?" I called out. "Edward!"

"Shh, Bella," a voice from behind me murmured.

"Edward!" I exclaimed, turning toward him. He smiled as he grasped my arms to steady me. "Why were you gone for so long, Edward?"

"I was here yesterday," he said patiently.

I frowned, and then remembered. "Oh yes... you were." I looked up at him. "I thought you didn't love me anymore, since I'm so old."

He laughed softly. "What have I always told you, Bella? I will always love you. Age is just a number. Looks don't matter."

"But my brain doesn't seem to be in too good of shape, either," I pointed out.

"All the more reason to stay here," he said. "I have to keep it in good repair." He bent down and gently kissed my forehead.

I sighed. "Life is so boring when you're not here. Everything's always the same. Why don't you stay?"

He smiled, though it seemed to be a sad smile. "It's not always the same when you get to realize I still love you every single day. Isn't that what you told me once? That it was amazing to wake up every morning and remember that I'm still here?" I did, actually, remember that, and I told him so.

He smiled, wider this time, the sadness only a ghost now, leaving me questioning if I'd even actually seen it. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned down to put his lips next to my ear, whispering, "I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Edward," I murmured back.

The wind picked up again, blowing my hair away from my neck as Edward gently kissed me.

* * *

**Kind of unrealistic, canonwise. Then again, is that not what fanfiction is for? I thought so. XD**

**Only one more! :D**


	25. Worship

**The Twilight Twenty-Five****  
****Prompt:** Worship**  
****Pen name:** TRDancer**  
****Pairing:** Jasper/Alice**  
****Rating:** T

* * *

Jasper Whitlock was mine.

Everything from his perfect blonde curls and bright blue eyes down to his flawless skin and muscular legs belonged to me.

It didn't matter if he didn't wasn't aware of that. He would learn soon enough.

I watched as he crossed the cafeteria, laughing with his friends, other guys from the soccer team. A few random girls hung around as well. I didn't like that. They shouldn't be allowed to be so close to him when I was so far away. They didn't care about Jasper the way I did. I spotted a blonde hanging off him, giggling at something, and was appeased when Jasper shook her off. I smirked to myself at her dejected expression.

Jasper glanced around, his gaze resting on my spot in the corner for a moment before moving on, unmoved by my presence. I ground my teeth together—I should _matter_ to him. He should see me and be happy to do so. I couldn't stand for this ignorance.

I would matter to him if it was the last thing I did with my life.

* * *

**And I'm done! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. You're awesome. **


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